Stuffed mushrooms 3 ways

This post is sponsored by the Australian Mushroom Growers Association.

Christmas is rapidly approaching and while we are not planning to do a lot of entertaining this year, we will be doing some.

I’ll be making a few batches of my favourite marinated mushrooms, as they are always a hit, and keep for a while in the fridge making them great for when people pop in unexpectedly. Or just great for a snack.

My other mushroom favourite that I’ll be making a few times over coming weeks are these stuffed mushrooms. They are great to serve as an entree at a dinner party, or as party food (but they can be a bit messy to eat with your fingers, so keep a few napkins around!).

 

There are so many foods that go brilliantly with mushrooms that I often find it hard to pick how to serve them. I’ve made these with three different toppings so you can pick and choose – or make all three!

Stuffed mushrooms three ways
by Mel Kettle, The cook’s notebook

Stuffing 1: Mushrooms stuffed with caramelised onions and blue cheese

What you need:

• 12 medium sized mushroom cups – the ones I used were about 5cm in diameter
• 1tbs olive oil
• 1tbs butter
• 3 large brown onions (or 5 smaller), peeled and sliced about 2mm wide
• 1tsp balsamic vinegar
• 100g cream cheese
• 100g blue cheese (if you are using a milder blue cheese you might want to add 150g)

What you do:

• Caramelise the onions – melt the olive oil and the butter in a mid-sized fry pan on a medium heat. Add the onions and cook on a medium low heat, stirring every 5 mins. It takes at least 45 minutes to properly caramelise onions, so make sure that the heat isn’t too high. At the 30 minute mark add the balsamic vinegar and keep stirring. They are cooked when they are lovely and soft and brown, and the onion sweetness has been released

 

• While the onions are cooking, cream together the cream cheese and the blue cheese.
• Preheat the oven to 180c.
• To assemble, remove the stalks from the mushrooms (these can be kept and used in any dish that calls for chopped mushrooms – I put them on pizza). Please note that you usually don’t need to peel mushrooms as lots of the good stuff is in the skin. Just give them a good wipe with a damp cloth to make sure there is no dirt.
• Place the mushrooms on a lined baking tray, cup side up. Place a teaspoon of the onions in the bottom of the mushroom, then the cheese mix on top.
• Bake at 180c for about 15-20 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

Stuffing 2: Stuffed mushrooms with chorizo and semi-dried tomato

Surprisingly these ones were my favourite – I say surprising as I fully expected the blue cheese ones to be the ones I went back for again and again.

What you need:

• 12 medium sized mushroom cups – the ones I used were about 5cm in diameter
• 150g cream cheese
• 1 chorizo sausage, diced into small pieces
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• 150g semi dried tomatoes
• few splashes of tabasco (optional)

What you do:

• Preheat the oven to 180c.
• Mix together in a bowl – the cream cheese, onion, tomatoes, chorizo and tabasco. Taste for flavour – add extra tabasco, salt and pepper if you think it needs it (I didn’t add S&P as the flavour was pretty fabulous without!)
• To assemble, remove the stalks from the mushrooms (these can be kept and used in any dish that calls for chopped mushrooms – I put them on pizza). Please note that you usually don’t need to peel mushrooms as lots of the good stuff is in the skin. Just give them a good wipe with a damp cloth to make sure there is no dirt.
• Place the mushrooms on a lined baking tray, cup side up. Place a dessertspoon of the topping on each mushroom
• Bake at 180c for about 20-25 minutes

P.S. these ones are also really good without the chorizo if you are looking for another vegetarian option

Stuffing 3: Stuffed mushrooms with pork and fennel sausage

This topping is one of my favourite combinations of food. I cook it often and sprinkle it on pizza bases, add a tin of tomatoes and it is a fabulous and flavoursome pasta sauce, or use it in stuffed capsicums or eggplants. It’s so versatile and the fennel seed just adds to the wow.

What you need:

• 12 medium sized mushroom cups – the ones I used were about 5cm in diameter
• 1tbs olive oil
• 2 good quality pork and fennel sausages, casing removed
• 1 large brown onion, diced
• mushrooms stalks from the 12 mushrooms, chopped
• 1 red capsicum, stalk and seeds removed, diced
• 1 tsp fennel seed, slightly crushed
• 1 tsp chilli flakes, slightly crushed (optional)
• 100g of a good melting cheese, sliced into 12 pieces

What you do:

• Preheat the oven to 180c.
• Heat the oil in a fry pan and add the onion. Cook on a medium heat until soft (about 3-4 minutes), add the sausage meat and cook through (about another 3-4 minutes), breaking it up with a wooden spoon so it is in small pea-sized chunks. Add the capsicum, fennel seed and chilli flakes and cook for about 10 minutes until the capsicum is soft
• To assemble, place the mushrooms on a lined baking tray, cup side up. Place a dessertspoon of the topping on each mushroom and top with a slice of cheese
• Bake at 180c for about 25-30 minutes, until the cheese is melted and browned slightly

Let me know your favourite!

Please note this competition has now closed.

Now. Onto the competition!

Mushrooms are your passport to good health!

So we know mushrooms are good for you, and the more mushrooms you eat, the more opportunities your body has to absorb and respond to the unique health benefits mushrooms provide.

The fabulous people at the Power of Mushrooms are giving my fellow mushroom lovers the chance to share in $50,000 of holidays! It’s pretty simple – the more you buy mushrooms, the more chances you have to win.

There are 3 tiers of travel, so the more mushrooms you buy each time you go shopping, the further you could travel – pretty simple!

• 200g – $5,000 holiday
• 300g – $10,000 holiday
• 400g – $20,000 holiday

They are also giving away 12 luxury weekend getaways and mini breaks over summer.

So each time you go shopping, make sure you have at least 200g of mushrooms on your list, then go to the Power of Mushrooms website with your receipt details, and enter for your chance to win.

GOOD LUCK!

This post is sponsored by the Australian Mushroom Growers Association – but anyone who knows me knows I absolutely love mushrooms and rave about them all the time.

What is your favourite way to eat mushrooms?